Count Me In

Published 4:00 am, Monday, January 17, 2000

THE CENSUS Bureau is depending on Americans' competitive spirit to come up with a more accurate national head count.

Census officials want communities to increase their rates of mailing back census questionnaires by 5 percent. And they're giving community members a chance to see how well they're doing by posting Census 2000 response rates for different areas on the Internet between March 27 and April 11.

Like to razz your sister in Minneapolis? Here's one more way -- if your neighborhood makes a better showing than hers.

The census forms will be sent out shortly before the official census day of April 1, and the bureau is launching a public relations blitz that includes enlisting the help of local government officials in reminding people of the importance of filling out the census questionnaires.

The census is valuable just for the picture it paints of the United States every 10 years -- in numbers, ethnicity, age groups. But an accurate census also allows for a more equitable distribution of federal funds for schools, hospitals, roads, the aging and the vast array of recipients of government resources.